Planning for Produce

I have a problem. I can’t turn down a great deal on good food. Specifically, at the Farmer’s Market. The sight of all that beautiful fresh produce just overwhelms me. Especially in the summer, when the tomatoes are piled high and the herbs are so fragrant, they call me from two aisles over.

 At my Farmer’s Market, in Sugar Land, Texas, we have a wonderful farm that comes every weekend, Gundermann Acres. They offer a share box every week, similar to a farmer’s co-op. The crucial difference is that I don’t have to sign up and pay for it at the beginning of the season. I can decide every week whether I want a box or not. This fits my life so amazingly well, because with only a family of three, I can’t always go through an entire box every week. As you can see, there’s a LOT in one of my boxes. The only extra I bought was extra tomatoes, because tomatoes are delicious. And the price cannot be beat: $25. Yes. $25. If I went to my grocery store, even my wonderful ALDI, and spent $25 in produce, I would get half of that amount. With a well-stocked spice cabinet, and some carbs like rice in the pantry, this type of box could easily feed my family for the week by itself. 

So, when confronted by a huge assortment of produce from the farmer’s market or the co-op, some of which may be unfamiliar or at least out of your comfort zone, what do you do? This could also be a box of food gotten from a food pantry. Do you panic? I know I used to. The first few boxes I got were always an exploration of “what is this” and “what the heck do I do with that?”.

 Now, I have a better idea of what I can do, and how to plan. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times, you cannot save money feeding your family if you do not meal plan. Here’s how I do it: 

Step One: spread out all your new goodies and take a picture. Then put them away properly. Here’s a great chart from the American Heart Association showing where to store your produce. Hopefully, you cleaned out your fridge before you went to the market!

 Step Two: make a list of what you have and about how much, referring to the picture. Don’t forget anything!

 Step Three: Go through your list and start matching up recipes. Try to find recipes that either use all of one type of vegetable, or recipes that use portions of lots of different vegetables. For instance, my favorite greens recipe will use anywhere from two to four bunches of greens and salads will often take care of half a head of lettuce, plus a cucumber or two, tomato, carrot, some pepper, some cabbage, and maybe some broccoli, depending on my mood.

 Step Four: Eventually, you will probably get to a point where you’re just not sure of what to do with a particular vegetable. For me, my learning curves involved turnips, beets, radishes (especially watermelon radishes), greens, napa cabbage (they’re just so HUGE), fennel, kohlrabi, and grapefruit (which is the only thing I will ask to substitute, because NO ONE in my house will eat it no matter how much sugar I put on it).

 This is when I usually start looking through cookbooks and Pinterest. If you do this often enough, or join a Farmer’s Co-op, you will eventually find a go-to recipe for each of your trouble veggies. Like, when I see beets in the box, I know I’m baking brownies. When I see radishes, I know I’m pickling them with carrots and peppers and cauliflower (sooooooo good on tacos!). And when I get greens, my son gets super excited because he knows his favorite recipe with bacon is going to be on the menu.

 What kind of strategies do you have for dealing with a box of produce?

Hugggggggggs,
Scout

Feeding your Soul

Sometimes, feeding your soul is as easy as a literal walk in the park.  Sometimes, it is indulging in a self care day for yourself.  Sometimes feeding your soul involves actually feeding yourself.

And your kids.

And your husband.

And your friends who came over to spend time with you.

And your budget is shot.

That's why I'm here.  I'm here to help you dig deep in your pantry, so that you don't have to dig deep in your soul.  Of all the things to worry about, whether you are able to feed yourself healthy food shouldn't be one of them.

Some of the things you can look forward to from me:

• healthy recipes that have been eaten by my kids, which are normal amounts of picky
• recipes that focus on plant based nutrition, as well as recipes that contain meat (I will always tag vegetarian options, and will try to place any meat based pics below the fold.)
• occasionally I will post full meal plans
• recipes and techniques for getting the most bang for your buck, without having the luxury of being a stay at home mom
• recipes for big families, recipes for little families, recipes for singles

What you won't see from me:

• Long weird stories that don't really have anything to do with the recipe or tip or technique. I'm not here to waste your time, I know you want the info you need, the encouragement to know you can do it, and the details to make sure it turns out great.

See you in the kitchen! (Do mermaids even have kitchens?!?!)

Huggggggggggs,
Scout

Who Needs a Pep Talk? This Is For You Mom and Dad.

   Hey Mom. Hey Dad. I see you out there, doing the best you can with not enough support. Trying desperately to live up to the Pinterest posts and scathing editorials written by Smothers across the globe. I see you crying yourself to sleep as you scroll through social media and seeing how you don't measure up.

   How about I let you in on a secret? NONE OF US MEASURE UP. We are ALL in the same boat. Desperately trying to live up to expectations of marketing and media, striving to follow rules that aren't written down anywhere and that are CONSTANTLY changing. I am a mother myself, I have three children and we have been through it all. Poverty and famine and comfort and plenty. And I learned a lot of hard lessons along the way.

Lesson 1:
 
    Your kids just want stability. They don't care how much or how little money you make. They don't care if you spend an hour making Bento boxes (they won't eat it anyway).
    They just need to know that if they are thirsty Mom or Dad will have a drink for them. If they are hungry they will be fed. If they are scared they will be comforted. That baths will have bubbles and will end in a game of run from the towel. That bedtime will always be a game of how many stories can I get? All they need is to know that you are there. Always.

Lesson 2:
    They are going to drive you insane. No matter what. It is part and parcel to living with and guiding another human being with free will. It's part of trying to reason with someone who has only read half of the rulebook. It's losing your temper and saying things you don't mean. But this not bad.
    There are so many opportunities here to use these as a means of education. When we are open about our weaknesses, when we own our struggles and admit that we did something wrong or inappropriate and we apologize to our children for losing our temper or snapping at them, We are teaching them humility, humanity, and personal accountability.

Lesson 3:
    They are going to grow up. They are going to become more and more independent and they are going to want to make their own choices. Even if you HAVE been there, even if you have all of the answers, even if you know exactly how it is going to turn out.....sometimes we have to know when to step back and let them make their own mistakes and learn from them. Be a safety net, not a helicopter. Some of our most valuable lessons are learned the hard way.

    Why am I writing about this? I have three children of my own. They are currently 18, 14, and 12. They are all different, and all in different phases of their lives. And with each it is a whole new world for us as parents.
    Last night I had an interaction with my 12 year old that prompted me to share my thoughts. I had a hard day, I had received numerous pieces of information that were incredibly stressful, and I was in the process of working on research for another issue. (Note, I had not shared any of this info with my child and therefore they did not have this info as a basis to make choices.)
    As I was working on this project, my child said they wanted to show me something, and then continued to try to explain this thing and asked for it....I ended up in information overload because I was only half paying attention and trying to multitask. The overload was enough to tip me over into a minor anxiety attack which caused me to snap at them.
    I stopped what I was doing because NOW they have my full attention, and I raised my voice and I said: "NO! JUST STOP! I AM TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF THINGS WE NEED TO WORRY ABOUT! I DONT HAVE TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS THING YOU SAW ON YOUTUBE! BESIDES! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD BE GETTING IN THIS MYSTERY THING AND I AM NOT SHELLING OUT AN EXTRA $20 A MONTH FOR YOU TO GET SOME DUMB THING YOU WON'T USE IN THE MAIL!"

YEP. I suck at life. I yelled at my kid. I took out my built up stress on my 12 year old. I disavowed his interest and I demeaned something they put value in without looking at it. This is not ok.

After I calmed myself I sat down with my child and we had a conversation that went a little like this: "Hey, I want you to know that what I did was not appropriate. I took my stress out on you because you were the last thing to trigger it. BUT I want you to know that what you did was NOT WRONG. You were working with the information you had, which wasn't much. And you are 12, I'm the adult and unfortunately I did not behave like one. What I SHOULD have done was tell you how I was feeling and the basics of why when I got home. You didn't know I was already stressed. I should have told you I was busy but I tried to do too much at one time.
    There are a lot of different ways I could have behaved and handled it but I made poor choices that resulted in your feelings getting hurt. I recognize that I took away your ability to make informed choices when I didn't share with you, and I am very sorry for devaluing something you obviously have value in when I don't have information about it.
    I am sorry for how I behaved, and I want you to know that just because I am apologizing that doesn't mean you have to automatically be ok. You are allowed to feel. You are allowed to be upset and I understand if you need some time to work through those feelings. But I will ask you to forgive me. And I want you to know that your forgiveness does not excuse or enable my poor choices. Forgiveness means that you trust me to learn from this and do better. Too often people use forgiveness as a means to continue to be toxic and not grow. You are within your rights to remove toxic people from your life. People become toxic when they don't grow, or change poor behavior."

 Now this was a conversation and I omitted my child's responses but I think the important info is here. Own your humanity. Be humble. Admit that you need to and can grow. Because our kids mimic our behavior more than our words. Accepting these things into your life also removes so much pressure to BE PERFECT. When you own and accept your humanity you teach your children to value humanity in others and themselves, and you become empowered to live more authentically.

Listen, TL;DR you are doing a good job. Keep trying. Keep pushing forward. Keep striving. And if you are worried....then you are definitely doing it right. (Bad parents are often convinced they are perfect.)

Keep your head up, none of us know what we are doing. We are all in this together.

XoXo
Tiff

What Are Your Dreams?

   As children we spend a lot of time dreaming, planning for our futures, setting goals, looking forward with hope and excitement. We are encouraged to dream and to dream big. We are told that the world is ours as long as we keep reaching. But what happens when we stop? Why are these concepts only allowed for the young? They aren't. We just forget.

   Often, when I think about the young version of me and the current version of me...I feel like they are two different people. Like there was a before, and an after with a very large disconnect in between. Sometimes when I think about the younger version it almost feels like I am thinking about a completely different person. And this got me to wondering why that is.

   It's because I have stopped dreaming. When I became a mom I felt like it meant I had to put all of ME aside and solely focus on the person I was raising. I was under the impression that to be an adult and a mom it meant that it was now my job to make sure my child was safe and not hindered by anything that may impede her dreams. I walked away from everything that made me a real person and I became solely Mom.

   For a very long time I was focused on who I was SUPPOSED to be and not so much who I WANTED to be. I would try so hard to fit into this box that constantly changed and I never quite fit. I would look at others far more successful and noteworthy than I, and I would wonder how on earth they became that.

   How does one become so valued? And one day....it hit me. They weren't trying to be anything other than who they authentically were. They never stopped dreaming and reaching and trying and doing. They weren't afraid to fail. They weren't afraid to let go of unsuccessful projects.  They tried. And if it didn't work then they would let go, or make a change. Either way its ok! It is ok to say "well that didn't go as planned." It is ok to reroute your path as many times as you need to until you find what works for you.

   I am finding my authentic self these days. I am dreaming and dreaming big. This blog is part of that. And I am reaching. And I am not afraid for things to not work out. I'm not afraid to put down one thing that is not working in order to pick up something else that may help me get to where I want to be.

   So what I am trying to say here is this. Don't be afraid to dream. Don't be afraid to love what you love loudly. Don't be afraid to be who you are, your most authentic self. Don't be afraid to try. Don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to move forward. Life is not a straight line. We will get there together.

XoXo
Tiff

Welcome!

Hello, friends, family and fans! I am so excited to embark on this new journey with you!

This is going to be another aspect of my multifaceted brand that I hope you will find more engaging and diverse. For those of you who already follow my antics on my facebook page Mermaid Queen, I hope this adds value to content that you already enjoy.

Here we will share photo essays, written essays, recipes, life skills, uplifting moments and real moments when I may be more of a sea hag and not so much a mermaid.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting me. I hope you find value here.